Dave and Kirby rightly observed: >Kirby hit it right: the west coast of Vancouver Island has Puget Sound beat all hollow for great sea kayaking, and you get to deal with ... surf!< While true, most of us don't necessarily have a choice where we live or proximity to good paddling. As far as destination paddling, BC and Alaska probably can't be beat. But given southern BC's more moderate climate and juxtaposition of open sea with bays, sheltered water and endless inlets, you really can't beat it. Living on Vancouver Island certainly can't be beat as its kind of like the hub. But as you point out, access isn't too bad for those who want to travel a bit. The point being, destination paddling is just that, destinations. As far as day trips and odd overnighters, anywhere near water is fine. I'm sure Shawn makes full use of Montana's lakes, just as I'm sure Vancouverites easily access waters that abound in close proximity. The point being, being near any water for routine paddling can't be beat. In terms of regional disparities, I only feel sorry for those whose climates preclude year-round paddling. Anyway, I'm probably stating the very obvious. Perhaps less obvious is the fact that those with a bent toward the more extreme elements have it beat hands down on Vancouver Island. Unlike the Washington or Oregon coastlines for example, there are innumerable small and large areas to run for shelter, given BC's tortured, craggy coastline. And its all accessible year round. Mt. Everest takes incredible logistics and money to bag. I can be out in world-class paddling conditions within an hour or two, somedays within minutes. I certainly ain't moving off the island. >The San Juans are overrun, by comparison, with homes, stink-potters, and ... other sea kayakers.< Again, for day tripping, none of this matters. For overnighters and longer, yes, it does get a bit more irksome I imagine, but at least in BC waters, there are no real foreshore rights by property owners. >Even the BC version of the San Juans (Gulf Island) is less crowded and less settled.< Way worse than it used to be, but we won't get that thread going again! Much was just set aside as part of a national park system. Thank you Ottawa for once. >A couple of other bonuses: >1. there is a good exchange rate on the US dollar Getting a lot worse. I was making a mint off Sea Kayaker writings - relative to the currency situation. >2. the people are a lot nicer (even Kirby) Kirby's cool; a bit blunt perhaps, but only because he isn't a windbag like some of us and keeps wordage to a minimum. Canadians generally are a nice lot, though lower BC has a tendency toward being a bit snooty at times. And apathetic? Oh yeah baby. We don't care how outrageous our politicians boondoggle their way through zillions of tax payer dollars or erode free speech, as long as we are all orderly and well behaved about it. Have a nice day! One thing that did interest me with the original poster of the thread is how many of us have ever considered moving simply to get closed to better paddling? I know many of us dream, like Melissa wanting to head to somewhere like Alaska one day, where the grass is greener (um, I need to work on that sentence). The reason I show regard to this topic is because I've been trying to warm my wife to the idea of moving northward (west or whatever) to Sooke. The move would allow me to access the west coast more instantly when storms come up, give me cheaper and quicker access to hot surfing spots (gas prices are outrageous on the island), and have the added benefit of allowing us to purchase for the same monetary commitment, more land, a bigger house, and my own on-property workshop for custom wooden kayak building. The down side is greater remoteness to Victoria, power outages, no family GP's or regional hospital and an overabundance of pot-heads taking hits out on their verandas all day. What about that, anyone thinking similar thoughts? I mean really contemplating a move for paddling sakes? Just wondering. Regardless, bloom where you are planted, err, I mean where you plant your paddle in the water. Doug Lloyd (who would like to move to Astoria too; maybe they have contract rates for Columbia River bar kayak rescues). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever can be said at all can be said clearly and whatever cannot be said clearly should not be said at all." Ludwig Wittgenstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri May 23 2003 - 21:59:26 PDT
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